Kwanzaa, a colorful, festive annual celebration of African-American culture, was birthed 54 years ago during a tumultuous, ugly time in U.S. history and 2020 will go down as another such time.
For many Black Americans, watching George Floyd’s neck being crushed in May by that Minneapolis' police officer’s knee crushed their spirits and took them back in time.
Multiple deaths this year of unarmed Black people at the hands of law enforcement sparked worldwide protests and propelled the Black Lives Matter movement into the center of the public consciousness.
The year, also crippled by a pandemic, was in many ways reminiscent of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, with large marches and protests, some of which turned violent.